#rvd 5x14

[jugheadjones]

Betty vs Cheryl’s painting of Betty S5E14: The Night Gallery

[thetaoofbetty]

You and @stillhidden have been amazing this season. Your asks are great! Can I assume that after last night's "episode," you're still predicting a BH reunion at some point?

you're too sweet to us, lovely!💜

and yes, i do. i'm not set on any theory for the rest of this season or early s6 but i'm not even mad, i'm just face palming over this stuff in the last episode since it was so badly done all around.

this is about to sound off topic but it'll make sense in the end, i think:

(ah hell, it got longer than i wanted so feel free to skip it altogether)

you have people who think that the wonky stuff started in 5x17 after cheryl's prayer (raise your hand if your greek god/goddess phase in your youth means you definitely know more about gaia than the rvd writers) because we know there have to be consequences for what cheryl is doing as seen by those tapes and the finale promo.

and you have people who think it's all going to start with the finale since cheryl is obvs going through it. and they've blatantly said that the finale has to do with the mini event and if we go by those tapes, we know that whatever (someone named agatha?) tells cheryl, she brought something (did she say curse? my brain is tired) to riverdale and they can get revenge for what was done to them.

or, you can read @bettyminicoop's theory that all of s5 is an au (which would ras pull of a season and mini event as a dream thing dynasty style or nah? 🤔)

but then there's the people who just think it's badly done all around. i think everyone is valid in this case tbh.

(and yes, riverdale is written badly we all know this but up until now, s5 had been boring and miserable more than truly nonsensical—uh, in the usual riverdale sense, i don't often care about their random inconsistencies or oddball plots because it's been 2021 for 7 years so i'm picking my struggles)

like, can we currently look at that picture of betty and veronica and scratch our heads because it says agent cooper in the background when we know that betty got fired from the fbi? yes. we can also assume it has something to do with cheryl's hijinks, wonky timelines, or whatever. only time will tell.

so, what's the point, right? it's that the only consistent long term thing about this show is bughead, varchie, and choni. i don't think they put more energy, effort, and care into bughead's backstory for 5x14 than they did by co-opting plotlines from other ships in the show to force a chemistry lacking j/abitha relationship for no reason. remember early on how a lot of us got harassed about j/t being "the new detective duo"? yeah, that's...no. they're giving them side plots and according to the show and that dm with evan, they're getting shades of the varchie vs hiram plotline.

and, if b/a in the future is going to be like anything it was in the past, it will be little interaction because they need archie and betty to carry their own plots so it will be scenes here and there (or archie will be backup to betty's plot for 5 minutes and it will be a huge failure) like it was in early 5a. we also don't know much about anything that's in the finale so context is still key, i think.

i can't even get into fangs and toni, i just cannot, it's so weirdly misplaced we should all just ignore it.

but all of that is just to say that i don't think we should act like this show doesn't know what works and what doesn't. they know bughead works because if they didn't, 5x17 wouldn't have culminated in the way it did. it might be a slog to get there but yes, i think a reunion is coming.

[askandsmile]

i got all y'all's messages and i do think i have more to say, but at the same time i'm just like 🥴️🥴️🥴️

this season isn't great, but this episode was terrible. evan is a terrible writer. he's also a fucked up troll. he likes that he's the b*rchie king, he likes b*rchie, he projects onto them. and truly, the less we try to explain anything about this, the better.

i think i need to wait and watch what comes next (from better writer's hands tbh) until i say anything else regarding canon.

but long post ahead, cause i've been wanting to address something that it's not even coherent, but it's just making me insane lol.

we have 6 episodes ahead of us. 6 weeks. if you guys freak out with every single thing that happens, no one is going to enjoy anything anymore.

i don't have spoilers. all the spoilers i had, from when i was in the clubhouse with evan, i gave to you. the way i read the interviews, i told you. i don't have anything else to add. i never had inside info or anything like that, all my speculations were based on rumors going around *and* the bts we got.

all that i could speculate i already did.

"oh, but what if--"

well. when s4 ended, i said, "if they're gonna make veronica look like archie's second choice, i'm not going to watch s5 live". i carried on watching because they didn't, they made it quite clear that veronica is archie's first choice seven years later.

i'm saying it again, "if they're gonna make varchie go through some b*rchie drama/bullshit again, i'm not going to watch s6 live."

if i do watch it, it'll be the same by the end of it if they get a s7. you have to go episode by episode with this show until the entire journey makes sense.

that's all i can do! that's all i can control. that's all you guys can control: the time and dedication you're willing to give to this show.

(i write a fic that's never-ending and even with roughly 4 readers left, i am pushing through because i want to finish it. this is the time and dedication i'm willing to give to this show, writing this fic to those who still enjoy it and to myself, and to varchie.)

so my suggestion now is, let's watch the episodes. it's 6 weeks. are you going to be anxious for 4-5 out of 6 weeks because of something that maybe, possibly, perhaps will happen? are you going to try to make me and other people anxious because you are? i'm choosing, at this point, to trust my ship and the story they've been telling about them.

i know it's harder for bugheads at the moment (reminder that i, myself, am not one although i did love them back in s1 and do support their relationship in the core four context) because they've been dealing with another love interest, on top of cole and lili's breakup, on top of not getting a lot of content, or bts, etc, etc.

but as a varchie shipper...guys, i've been there!

i have seen reggie tell veronica they could be endgame. i have seen archie dance a duet with josie saying he'd fight for her. i have seen archie writing a song to someone else. i have seen veronica getting married to another guy, and then possibly sleep with him after sort of maybe getting back together with archie. trust me, no one in this fandom knows better what you guys are going through right now.

so yes, maybe jabitha will date, or maybe they won't. maybe bh will get back together this season, maybe they won't. it doesn't mean the end of bughead, not at all. look at all the shit other ships have been through (even b*rchies, really). you guys are fine.

is the show good right now? no, it's not. i thought it wasn't so bad until 5x08 (even with the b*rchie thing) but then it just went downhill, and 5x13 was the worst episode ever. no wonder it had 0.7 ratings. but like, does that mean it will stay so bad? i don't know. i haven't watched 5x14, 5x15, 5x16, etc. i don't know what's coming. it might be great! it might suck.

and you guys don't get it, half the varchie fandom left in s3 because there was no sight of varchie anywhere, and then we were pleasantly surprised with the best build up ever in s3C. but you know what? sometimes i wish varchie hadn't gotten back together then! so we would see more of that buildup, some actual reaction from archie seeing veronica choose reggie instead of him, etc. it would've opened a sea of possibilities for a good story.

and whether you like it or not, this is giving more space for other characters to be around. they're not developing them. they're not writing them well. but you can't deny that we have seen more of toni, reggie, fangs, even kevin and cheryl, than ever since...ever.

and it's okay if you just watch for your ship. but the show, and the writers, are not worried about you shdhshd. i think there has been a misconception about that. the ships exist within the show, and this season feels so weird because the core four is apart and bh is apart, but the show is ultimately about the characters and their good/bad decisions.

so, thinking about the characters, ask yourself: is archie in conditions to be with veronica right now? is betty in conditions to be with jughead right now? jug and archie are in their way to healing, it looks like, but betty still isn't. is veronica in conditions to be committed again atm? i don't know. will this change in a couple of episodes? maybe!

and it's same for other characters. choni are going through the exact same thing bh is, they just don't have the impending doom that is b*rchie hovering above, but i guess no one doubts choni.

but imagine if they get back to choni and just give them a few throw away lines and boom, it's all magically fixed. wouldn't they feel betrayed? don't you enjoy the aspect that bh is taking time for this reunion after they were completely shattered? i know i would've written varchie differently if i could.

anyway. it's useless to think "oh, zalben said this, evan said that, ras said this" when we can't control what they say, or how they think. we can only interpret it (90% of the time i've been right about them but whatever) and we can only watch the show in front of us and absorb something from that.

(which is hard when the episode sucks, but it's what we can do).

all this freaking out is making me stop enjoying the show, and the fandom. it's not giving anyone any joy. you guys have to calm down and i'm not being dismissive of how much a tv show can bring anxiety, but the only thing you can do is trust the process.

bughead has been a solid thing for 4 seasons. it's their first major problem. varchie has been not that solid but very, very present for 4 seasons. b*rchie has been whatever it has been for 4 seasons. jabitha is a new ship, but it's around now... but hasn't even really happened yet. like, all these characters have their stories to tell among them, and if we don't enjoy the road they take, we can only try to detach ourselves.

okay, i guess, that's it. i'm not sure if i make any sense, but i'm so exhausted of people not trusting what's being shown to them and only thinking about zalben, bdaily takes, evan, ras, yadayada, who the rvd writers liked on twitter, like... c'mon.